Unreal Engine maker Epic Games has acquired AI-powered asset tagging company Loci for an undisclosed fee.
Loci has developed technology that uses AI-powered APIs to label, categorize, recommend, and optimize 3D assets at scale. The company said its endpoints “make it easy to search, manage and understand complex 3D assets and scenes.”
Loci’s computer models have been trained on over 1 million 3D assets, which it claims lets them “understand just about any visual style.”
Epic will integrate Loci’s technology across its ecosystem to improve sharing and discoverability in Fab and to automatically index custom assets in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).
The company said Loci’s 3D similarity detection solution for IP protection will also help identify potential IP violations and enhance moderation capabilities across its platforms.
“Epic creates and hosts a huge amount of 3D content across our ecosystem, and we are always looking for ways to automate artist workflows and improve discoverability of content,” said Lucia Specia, director of Epic’s Machine Learning Solutions team, in a blog post.
“We look forward to working with the Loci team to develop novel AI tools to improve how our community creates and modifies 3D content across Fab, Unreal Engine and our entire ecosystem.”
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Loci CEO Eugene Yi said the acquisition will support its mission of ensuring 3D assets are “accessible, discoverable, and protected.”
“Joining Epic Games allows us to integrate Loci’s 3D understanding technology where it matters most—supporting creators directly in the strongest 3D asset ecosystem in the world,” he added.